Safety in Numbers
by thestargraveyard
Summary: Yet another trip in the TARDIS turns into chaos, but is the Doctor prepared for what awaits him and Donna in the depths of an alien jungle?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

The man had eight and a half minutes left to live.

The man didn't know this.

The man wandered silently through the undergrowth. A small smile played across his face as he caught a glimpse of his prey, darting through the bushes towards a pile of rocks near an opening in the rough cliff face. _It doesn't stand a chance_ he thought, raising the gun up to his eye, ready to pull the trigger. He crept forward, keeping low beneath the dark trees that towered above him; they were tall and mysterious and something was wrong. The abnormality of it was almost unnoticeable, except for the nagging feeling that something was missing. It should have struck him, but it didn't. It was the birds. There was no birdsong, no rustling of leaves as they moved through the floppy leaves that were so high above him, even though he should have been able to hear them. If he had thought about it, he would have realised that he hadn't seen a bird in all the time that he had been on this planet, not one. Back home there were hundreds, flocking to any sign of food that they could find. But he didn't notice, and that was to be his undoing; he was too focused on this petty prey to realise that he was a long, long way from home. He didn't notice the way the forest darkened slightly, or the way every other living creature seemed to hold its breath, or the slight drop of temperature as he began to pull the trigger. He did, however, notice the snap behind him, he wheeled round, slightly too late...

Then nothing. The creatures returned back to their daily routines and the temperature rose once again. All that was left was a rifle and a small, silver cufflink.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

'Hurry up Donna!' the Doctor shouted, adjusting his jacket in the window.

'Alright, alright, don't rush me, a girl needs more than five minutes to get ready ya know, Mr. Smarty-pants. I would've thought you'd have figured that out, being the master of time and space and everything?' Donna emerged from the TARDIS, waving her hands in what she thought to be an extremely sarcastic manner, although the Doctor didn't seem to catch on.

'Well, you know me, always the gentleman, I really think I shouldn't be called the Doctor, I should be called Lord Chivalrous, protector of damsels in distress. Not that I'm saying you're a damsel in distress, I just meant that I have dealt with damsels in distress in the past...I'm digging myself into a bit of a hole here, aren't I?' the Doctor quailed under the look that she was giving him and thought that one day, if she ever got into politics, he would have World War Three on his hands.

He was taking her to the planet Vlaximalion for dinner, well, supposedly anyway. He was a bit worried about the TARDIS, she'd seemed to be playing up a bit recently, and he was troubled. No sooner had he thought this he shook it from his mind and started up the controls, pulling levers and pushing buttons, in a flurry of movement that Donna would secretly marvel at, though she would never admit to him how impressed she was at his ease with which he handled this vast machine. The familiar whirring sound started up and the Doctor sighed. Maybe today he would actually be able to take Donna out for dinner without landing in a completely different place to the one that they were supposed to be in. This happened far too often and they normally resorted to having a picnic whilst being surrounded by a host of unfriendly aliens. At that precise moment the TARDIS let out a huge groan and the whirring turned into grating and the grating turned into a tremendous crash as the Doctor and Donna were sent sprawling across the floor, collapsing in a heap near the swimming pool. The TARDIS came to a shuddering halt and Donna dizzily disentangled herself from the Doctor and stumbled over to the main console.

'So, genius, where are we this time, eh? 'Cause I bet it's not Vlaximalion.'

After regaining control of his limbs and working out what were his legs and what were his arms, the Doctor leapt to his feet and ran to the door, opened it and stepped outside. After a few minutes, his head popped round the edge of the door, grinning like a child at Christmas.

'Cor, Donna, you're gonna love this, look at it, it's brilliant!'

'It's a forest. Whoop Whoop. I did Duke of Edinburgh when I was fifteen, I've had my fair share of trekking through forests, thank you very much, not to mention the time when you 'borrowed' that tribe's dagger and they chased us through the Amazon rainforest.'

'Aw, come on, where's your sense of adventure? Just one teensy little look around? I promise I won't steal any crazy tribal daggers this time, and I'll take you to the Moon in 1969?'

'Fine. But no stealing tribal daggers, and I'll hold you to that.'

The Doctor stepped outside and bounced experimentally on the ground, walked over to a pile of small rocks nearby, picked one up and licked it.

'Hmm, gravity's similar to Earth, the air's breathable, otherwise I'd be choking on the floor by now, and no dangerous chemicals on the rocks. They taste rather nice, actually. I'm guessing somewhere in the Milospatin Galaxy, around 1950? Earth year?' he waved the sonic screwdriver around his head and checked something on the side of it. Apparently he was correct. The Doctor started to walk briskly away from Donna, into the depths of the forest and she jogged after him.

'Oi! Where are we going? Space Boy? Hello? I know what you're like when you're in one of these moods, come back here. Now. You've found something haven't you? Don't say it's a crazy tribe again, please don't. OI!'

He stopped abruptly, an odd expression on his face. As he revolved towards her he said very softly, 'It's odd isn't it? It's a fully functioning eco-system in the Milospatin Galaxy. I've been to places here before. But there's something that isn't right, something different, something that should be here but I'm missing it. Ah come on Doctor, think! There's a difference in the atmosphere of this planet, the mood, everything and I don't know what it is. Something is very, very wrong here.'

'Oh.'

They proceeded in silence, the Doctor muttering to himself as he walked, not noticing the various objects he was bumping into, Donna a few paces behind him, looking troubled. They carried on like this for a few hours, under the burning sun, both wishing they weren't wearing the formal clothes that they were going to wear out to dinner, in order to obey the customs of the people on Vlaximalion.

'Donna! Come here a sec? Look at this, tell me what you think.'

'It's a cufflink? What the hell is a cufflink doing in the middle of a forest in the Milospatatatatatatin Galaxy?'

'I don't know, but it's not good. Wait a sec- yup, traces of residual energy around it, something's up. Fancy a little side investigation?'

'Er, okay, just as long as it doesn't involve long treks through even more of this bloody forest. What investigation? '

The Doctor turned round and peered through the dense shrubs, looking at a patch of speckled sunlight about twenty metres away.

'Like who is building camp on a planet that is supposed to be inhabited by gentle herbivores?'


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Another man wandered through the forest.

He had six and a half minutes to live.

He didn't know this.

He had noticed that one of his comrades had disappeared whilst hunting for whatever food was slow enough to catch, but he didn't care much. All he cared about was the project that was being undergone and how successful it would be. But as there was no food he had been designated to find some, to go into the mysterious undergrowth and confront whatever horrors lay within. The thought of escape had half crossed his mind, but where would he run to? What would be lurking in wait if he did? Not to mention the punishment that would befall him if the others caught up with him. Safety in numbers.

In his last minutes he might have thought about his family, if he had one. He might have thought about the girl next door, when he was a child, if there was one. He might have thought about the beloved pets that he'd had over the years, if he'd had them. These were the sort of men that roamed this planet, cool killing machines, mercenaries, who would not bat an eyelid before harming even the most innocent of creatures. That was this man's undoing. He failed to notice the same changes the forest had undergone when his comrade had disappeared, until there was a snap behind him, he turned round in horror...

Then nothing. The creatures returned back to their daily routines and the temperature rose once again. All that was left was a small, silver cufflink.


End file.
